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Perming Plastic Ponies

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This instructable is recommended for ages 8 and up, or 5 and up with an adult helper.

Everyone who watches Hasbro's My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic knows that Pinkie Pie has very curly hair. It became curled around the time when she got her cutie mark. The Pinkie Pie ponies in the toy stores, however, do not have curly hair. Nice going, Hasbro.

Don't worry, everypony. We can fix it.

Materials Needed:

A plastic pony or other doll with hair that needs to be curly
toothpicks and string or pipe cleaners
a heat safe bowl
a microwave or a stove with a pot or kettle
small, sharp scissors

Steps:

1. Gently untangle Pinkie Pie's hair using a toothpick. Don't use a brush or it might frizz.

2. Separate a section of Pinkie Pie's hair using the toothpick. Do this neatly, or the curls will tangle much more easily later on. Starting at the ends of the section, wrap the hair tightly and neatly around the toothpick in a spiral pattern. If you're using pipe cleaners, have your adult helper cut them into 3 inch sections. Keep wrapping until you've reached her head and the section of hair is neatly spiralled around the toothpick or pipe cleaner. Bend the ends of the pipe cleaner around the wrapped hair, or wrap a piece of string around the hair and toothpick in order to secure it.

Separate another section of Pinkie Pie's hair and wrap it, also. Continue until all her hair and tail are wrapped around toothpicks or pipe cleaners. Using something larger like straws would make bigger curls, and Pinkie Pie has small, tight, frizzy curls.

3. Pour 2 cups of water into a microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 3 minutes, or ask your adult helper to help you bring 2 cups of water to a boil on the stove. Once the water on the stove is boiling, have the adult pour the water into the heat safe bowl and count slowly to 20.

4. Hold Pinkie Pie upside down by her feet. Dip her head and rear into the hot water, making sure all her wrapped hair gets wet. Don't touch the water, and don't get her legs or feet wet - that's how you're holding her! You don't want to get burned.

Once Pinkie Pie's hair has been dipped in the hot water, hold her upside down above the bowl of hot water, letting any extra water drip back into the bowl. Count slowly to 20.

5. Set Pinkie Pie on a counter to rest. Have an adult pour out the hot water so nobody comes along and gets burned. Watch My Little Pony or another cartoon that lasts at least 20 minutes. If you don't have anything to watch, find some crayons and draw your favorite pony on the wall. Your parents will love that, especially if you include rainbows, clouds, castles, and the pony companion pets in your mural.

6. Carefully unbend the pipe cleaners or snip the string wrapped around the toothpicks in Pinkie Pie's hair. Gently unwind each section of hair one at a time; don't just pull the toothpick or pipe cleaner straight out. Unwind them in a spiral, the opposite of what you did when you wrapped her hair in the first place. If you aren't careful, you'll twist some of her curls in different directions and they'll be messier.

7. Once Pinkie Pie's curls are all unwrapped, you can adjust them with a toothpick if some of them are sitting the wrong way. You might notice that the bottoms of the curls aren't as curly. That's okay; Hasbro made her hair too long, anyway.

Don't cut Pinkie Pie's hair before you curl it! Her hair will get shorter when it's curled, so you need to wait until it's curly before fixing the ends.

Carefully cut just a tiny amount off the ends of the curls where they don't quite match the rest of the curl. Don't cut too much! Plastic hair doesn't grow back, and I don't think Pinkie Pie would appreciate being bald. Look at the picture I took of the hair I trimmed from Pinkie Pie. That's about the amount you want to trim; any more is too much.

Let Pinkie Pie's hair air dry. You don't need to use a hair dryer on it, and a hair dryer might ruin her beautiful curls. Once it's dry, you can fluff it a little bit more with the toothpick until it looks just right.

Other ponies might need adjustments in their hair, too, but none of them as drastic as Pinkie Pie's. Applejack needs short bangs, for example, and Twilight Sparkle needs a trim and a gentle shaping of her mane. Make sure to get an adult's help before trimming any pony's hair. It might look simple, but it can get too short way too fast.

Now I need to go brush my teeth or something... just typing this instructable evokes a somewhat ambiguously saccharine sensation, imaginably similar to the result of overdosing on countless oh-so-cute fondant topped cupcakes.

14 Discussions

My sister has a Rarity exactly like that but it's one of the big ones, but since her hair is longer and bigger, I twist it into a ring let and then push it into a bristled hair brush and leave it for a while, and then take it out and it makes beautiful curls!

and to straighten the hair of those ugly dolls with hair so curly it stands on end but doesnt match their face, run a comb through the hair all the way to the ends then dip it hot water. turns out bootifu.

My daughter will love this! She was just telling me the other day how applejacks hair doesn't look the same as the cartoon. We will have to have a makeover party for her ponies now! Thanks, this is GREAT!